Die Zweigeschlechtigen Gottheiten Altanatoliens
The Androgynous Deities of Ancient Anatolia

Summary/Abstract: The paper studies the deities from the Anatolian Pantheon, described in cuneiform documents both as male and as female. The following deities are examined: Pirwa, Lelwani, Inar(a), Istar, Jarri, Kubaba, the solar deity Arinna and others. The author also addresses debates existing in the literature on whether those deities can indeed be referred to as androgynous, or whether one name is used accidentally for two deities, and she tends to favour the first assumption. The conclusion reached in the paper is that androgynous deities in Anatolia were a very ancient stratum of supreme deities of cities and tribes, because only supreme deities, the cosmic demiurges, could unite both genders within themselves, and to carry both the solar and the chthonian aspect simultaneously.

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